Grain-door for cars



(No Model.)

E. A. HILL.

GRAIN DoeR POR GARS.

No. 406,399. Patented July 2, 1889.

zzzv/ La MlHIMWMHVIM N, PETERS, Pnugzmugnpnun wnmngion. u, C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

EDWARD A. HILL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GRAIN-DOOR FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 406,399, dated July 2,1889. Application led November 26, 1888. Serial NoI 291,867. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. HILL, of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful,Improvements in Grain-Doors for Cars, of which the following is aspecification.

vMy invention relates to the inner doors provided for cars to keep smallgrains and the like from escaping, and which, when not in use for thispurpose, may be swung up under the roof of the car, out of the way.

The object of my invention is to simplify and cheapen the constructionof the door, to increase the ease of manipulating it, and to increaseits durability by making the fastenings such that in ordinary use theywill not be subjected to any wrenching or prying strains.

My invention consists in the parts and coinbinations hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the accompany-ing drawings, Figure l is a View of the door from theinside of the car, the door being down. Fig'. 2 is a cross-section online :c Fig. l, the door being shown as raised in full lines and as downin dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a perspective of one of the upper corners ofthe door, and Fig. 4 is a view showing the effect of wrongly adjustingthe ring connecting' the door and the rods on which it slides.

A is the door, at the upper corners of which are affixed pivots B B,which project horizontally, or approximately so.

C C are guide-rods, which are secured to the sides of the doorway, theirshape being best seen in the side view, Fig. 2. The lower part of theguide-rod is quite close to the side of the car, while the upper partgradually recedes therefrom in order to allow space for the formation ofa ledge D at the top.

The pivots B B cross the guide-rods C C on the rod toward the interiorof the car, and the pivots and rods are connected by the rings E E,surrounding them at their intersections. Said rings are sufficientlyloose to permit of free play between the guide-rods and pivots; but thetwo last named are so placed with reference to the side of the car thatwhen the door is lowered it is held close against the door-frame, asshown in Fig. 2. At the ends of the pivots B B are loops or enlargementsH H of any shape, which serve to keep the rings from getting over theends of the pivots, and also to limit end motion of the door by contactwith the guide-rods C C.

The enlargements H Ifl are not essential, but simply do away with theneed of making the pivots B B so long as would otherwise be the case.

The lower edge of the door is held by the cleat or stop F. Vhen raised,the lower or inner edge of the door is held by a hook G,

venient way.

The operation is obvious. Vhen the door is to be raised out of the way,it is pushed up till the pivots pass the bend at the top of theguide-rods and swing over onto the ledges D D, the ring-connectionallowing the pivots to pass the bend without hinderance. The lower edgeof the door then swings inward, being caught by the hook G.

I have found by experiment that in order to operate the door freely andwithout any liability to catching or binding the ringsy must encirclethe guide-rods and pivots, as shown in Figs. l, 2, and 3 of thedrawingsthat is, the upper edges of the rings should lie on the sides ofthe guide-rods toward the middle of the car-door. The reason for thiswill appear from an inspection of Fig. 4.

In raising the door there is no liability of either ring clamping orbinding, for the reason that there is considerable play allowed betweenthe guide-rods and the pivots, and in lifting both sides of the doorwould naturally be kept tolerably even; but when the pivots B B arepulled off the supporting-ledges D in order to lower the door they willseldom come off together, and of course the vpivot first off will allowits end of the door to drop. Now, if the rings be placed as shown inFigs. 1, 2, and 3, and describedheretofore, the ring on the side whichhad dropped will first bind, while the other ring will be placed in amore favorable position than before to pass from the ledge to thevertical part of the guide-rod, and no obstacle will be offered to thelowerin g of the door; but if the rings be inclined, as shown in Fig.4-that is, upwardly and outwardly instead of upwardly and inwardlythenthe pivot :first off the ledge will not be ysuspended at the top of thecar in any con- TOO bound by its ring and the side of the door Will dropmuch farther, and the ring of the other pivot will not be able to passfrom the ledge to the Vertical part of the guide-rod. AS the ring-andpivot connection between the door and guide-rods is entirely loose,there is no tendency to wrench it if the door be swung up before it isfully raised and the pivot has reached the retaining-ledge, as Would bethe case With a rigid loop attached to the door.

l claim- 1. The combination of a door, a pivot at each upper cornerthereof, a guide-rod at each Side of the doorway, and a rin g encircliug Said guide-rod and said pivot at their intersection, Substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination of a door, a pivot at each upper corner thereof, aguide-rod at each side of the doorway, its upper end receding from thedoorway and having a ledge formed thereon, L ring encircling theguide-rod and pivot at their intersection, its upper edge ly ing on theside of the guide-rod toward the center of the door, substantially asdescribed.

EDXVARI) A. llllLL. lVitnesses:

J. l. VERDER, P. II. T. MASON.

